From the jungle, word of Colombia hostages

For three years, the mother of Colombia’s most prominent hostage had heard nothing about her daughter’s fate. Now, at least, she has something to cling to: A policeman who managed to escape his leftist guerrilla captors said he saw Ingrid Betancourt alive just a few weeks ago.

Betancourt, a Colombian presidential candidate, was abducted along with her campaign manager in February 2002. In a telephone interview Thursday, Betancourt’s mother, Yolanda, said she had spoken with police officer Jhon Frank Pinchao, who described her daughter as being in good health and spirits.

Pinchao, who late last month got away from the rebels who had held him hostage for more than eight years, also reported that he recently saw three kidnapped Americans and that one was seriously ill.

The sighting by Pinchao is the first indication in nearly four years that the three defense contractors are alive. They were captured in February 2003 after their single-engine plane crashed in the Colombian jungle.

The emaciated officer told reporters at a news conference here Wednesday night that one of the Americans, Marc Gonsalves, was suffering from hepatitis.

Yolanda Betancourt said that until she spoke to Pinchao, she had had no sign that her daughter was alive since receiving a video of her three years ago. Pinchao’s account is encouraging to the hostages’ families, she said.

“It’s been so long since she left us, her family and her two children,” she said.

The plight of Betancourt, who holds dual Colombian and French citizenship, is a cause celebre in France, where posters of her are displayed in front of the Paris City Hall and elsewhere. The French government has tried to broker her release.

On April 28, Pinchao escaped a camp in this country’s eastern jungle lowlands where several hostages were being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Pinchao claims he saw the Americans and Betancourt the day he fled.

He then survived 17 days fighting off mosquitoes and snakes as he wandered along a river in the Amazon jungle before stumbling upon friendly policemen who led him to safety Wednesday. Hours later, he gave Colombians a riveting account of his captivity.

He had little to say about the three Americans -- Gonsalves, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell -- except that they were alive and that Gonsalves was in poor health. The three men were working for defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. when they were forced to crash-land during a reconnaissance mission connected to a U.S.-financed coca-spraying program.

The FARC took the three men into custody but killed a fourth U.S. citizen.

Pinchao’s flight to freedom came as rebels rejected an offer by President Alvaro Uribe to help jump-start talks for a humanitarian accord. Last week, Uribe said he was prepared to release hundreds of imprisoned FARC rebels if the insurgents would start discussions aimed at the release of 56 “exchangeable,” or high-profile, hostages. Those hostages include 34 army and national police officials and a score of politicians.

There have been no exchanges of rebels for hostages during Uribe’s administration, and he has been under pressure to ease his policy. In recent months, he has said he would pursue only military rescues over negotiations with rebels, only to reverse himself with offers such as the one made last week.

Uribe has been enormously popular in Colombia partly because of the hard line he has taken with the FARC. But as demobilization of right-wing militias and prosecution of their leaders continue, pressure will mount on the president to make peace with rebels as well.

In addition to the 56 political prisoners, the FARC and other groups are believed to be holding more than 3,000 hostages for ransom, according to Pais Libre Foundation, a group representing the families of kidnapping victims.

“The jungles of Colombia cannot continue being jails for innocent people and the refuge of those who violate human rights,” Pais Libre said in a statement. On Thursday, the FARC was quoted on a sympathetic website as saying Uribe’s offer was a smokescreen to divert public opinion from brewing paramilitary scandals.

Pinchao’s claim of being held with the Americans and Betancourt came as a surprise to one former hostage.

Fernando Araujo, a politician who escaped guerrillas in northern Colombia on New Year’s Eve and has subsequently been named foreign minister, said the guerrillas normally keep their high-profile hostages separate from one another.

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chris.kraul@latimes.com